


Sons of Stone: Durin's Legacy

by aceofhearts88



Series: Sons of Stone [1]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Everybody Lives, Family Fluff, Like really slow, Of course they do, and just basically everyone else from the Company, dwarven babies, kingdom being rebuilt, let me try some fluff first while I get over my EMOTIONAL BOFA TRAUMA, slow built plot, what do you mean it's not canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-07 20:40:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3182402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofhearts88/pseuds/aceofhearts88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[ON HIATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]</p><p>After the battle was over and won, more than one kingdom had to be rebuilt. and Erebor found itself with more than one king in its beginning weeks, and in the middle of it all, families would return to an old home. Old enemies have to face off again, lovers have to find their place in this new world.</p><p>Basically, this is what I am imagining a life after BOFA could look like if the events had turned out a little different. I am taking the movies as a basis to write on, rather than the book, so beware for spoilers for all three Hobbit movies. If you like fluff and family feels and babies and love and slow built relationships, then you might like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I will not be able to keep up a steady and regular updating shedule, because I write whenever inspiration strikes so prepare for long waitings between chapters. I can only promise that I will try to make it worth the time.
> 
> Also: I will make up a couple of things about culture and politics, especially in the dwarven society, hope no one dislikes it too much. Have fun.

Dain and Balin send letters only a day after the battle had ended and with a lot of help from Gandalf and a favor or two that the eagels still owed the grey hatted wizard, the letters reached the humble dwarven settlements in the mountains of Ered Luin three days after the great battle had ended.

Later they would call it the Battle of Five Armies, but the dwarrow woman that opened those parchments in the late hours of the day wouldn't care for it then or any time in the future. Surprised about the raven so close to midnight, Dis had accepted the letters with a gentle smile at the black creature, had offered some bread crumbs and water before watching the bird fly away again.

Humming quietly, she had walked back into the kitchen where her cousin's wife was knitting by the fireplace, Thera looked up when she sat down, brows furrowed, midnight blue eyes staring down at the letters in her hand.  
"Dis?", Gloin's wife, red hair neatly braided back, set her needle work to the side and turned to place a gentle hand upon her oldest friend's wrist.

"A raven brought letters.", Dis somehow brought past her lips, "From Dain and Balin.", not from the boys, not from her brother, not from Dwalin, not from Gloin, and her hands started shaking as Thera took in a sharp breaths.

A moment had then passed between them without any of them speaking a word, until the restlessness in Dis and the fear and the pain just got too great, and she ripped the seal open, and unfortunately opened Dain's letter first.

Unfortunately because her cousin had showed less comfort in his words than Balin had, who had approached the difficult topic with care. Dain had simply started his letter with

To Lady Dis,   
Daughter of Thrain  
Mother to the King under the Mountain, Lord of Erebor, Fili I

It would take two weeks until another letter arrived, two weeks until her tears would stop again and the dire need to kick a dwarf lord back to his Iron Hills rose inside of her, but then Dis had made sure that everyone willing to return to their home would start packing their belongings.

Durin's folk was returning home. Back home to the Lonely Mountain. Back home to Erebor.

And Dain Ironfoot better run.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go for real now. First chapter of my first Hobbit fic. Please be patient with me in the beginning while I get this story started, I promise that I have a good idea, it just will need some time until it had built itself up a little. First of all we need to reunite a family, and rebuild a kingdom, which won't even happen in this chapter.
> 
> Have fun!

He wakes.

Thorin wakes up and opens his eyes.

He was alive. He lived. His head was thundering with pain and disbelief when the realization crashed over him that somehow he had survived. And with a loud gasp that echoed from the tent walls and filled his burning lungs with clear and fresh air, Thorin Oakenshield lurched upright on the cot he had been laying upon.

Blue eyes stared around the circular tent, blinking against the blurriness of his vision, his ears were ringing and he brought up a hand to press against his left temple.

It took a moment, a long one, but then his vision cleared and his ears picked up other sounds again, especially the ragged breathing to his left where a truly terrified and shellshocked Ori stood frozen next to his cot.

Dark eyes were huge, staring at him without blinking and when Thorin called his name with a broken and crushed croaking voice, the young scribe blinked once before he raced from the tent.

For some minutes Thorin was left alone, unable to stand up or move more than his hands for longer than a second without the burning pain in his chest blinding him. His mind threw question after question at him while his ears slowly accustomed to the world again, picking up the distant sounds of other people, quiet voices. What had happened? Hadn't there been a battle? Where was he?

Quick and heavy footsteps came closer just as he dragged a hand down his face and it was just in time for him to look up again when the flaps of the tent's entrance was ripped open and grey eyes stared at him in shock and earth shattering relief.

"Thorin!", Dwalin gasped and then stormed over, throwing his hands upon his shoulders, "My friend. You live, you are not dead.", there wasn't anything Thorin was able to answer with, no words would have been able to express what he was feeling, so instead he brought a shaking hand up to rest upon the taller warrior's shoulders and pulled him closer.

Dwalin understood immediately and they rested their foreheads against each other, and Thorin was weakly reminded of a time quite similar, almost a century ago when he had woken up after another battle had been over, and Dwalin had also been the first to greet him.

They remained silent for a minute or two, but then Dwalin pushed him down onto the cot again, pulling up a chair to sit down next to him, and though his throat was still dry, Thorin finally found his voice.  
"What happened? Where am I, Dwalin?", the seasoned warrior, his best friend since childhood, was much too experienced in battle traumas to appear thrown off by Thorin's confused question and with only a few words from him, Thorin got reminded of what had happened during the battle, images coming back to his mind.

Fili falling. Kili gone.

And quickly he struggled upright again, his chest protesting against his quick breaths, Dwalin's hand came back to rest on his shoulder, a warm weight to keep him grounded. What had he done?  
How had he lived? He could still feel Azog's word being pushed through his ribs, he could still hear the last words he had spoken to Bilbo, could still see the tears on the hobbit's face before everything went dark.

"Are they...", he started slowly, closing his eyes against the pain of having lost the very last thing that had kept his heart from turning to stone, "Did they suffer?", Dwalin looked confused for a moment when Thorin looked up at him again, but then his eyes widened and he smiled.  
"No one died, Thorin. No one in the company died.", and Thorin's heart stopped, "Many of Dain's soldiers died, as did many elves and men, but none of us died. Some are hurt, Fili and Kili most of all, but they are alive. And Oin is positive that they will wake again."

"Where are they?", he wanted to know then, trying to fight against the storm of emotions crashing over him, Dwalin helped him sit up more straight before he answered.  
"They are in Erebor. Dain brought his best healers to help them, even the elven king sent his healers to help. Bilbo is with them, I believe. They are well protected by Dain and his best guards."

"Erebor...why...why am I not under the mountain?", the words sounded strange even as he spoke them, but Dwalin remained calm and Thorin couldn't be more grateful for it.  
"Because we had to keep the dead away from the wounded. Thorin, we thought you were dead, you weren't breathing anymore.", he looked in shock at Dwalin for a moment, but it didn't last long, he had thought he had died himself, he had thought his nephews to be dead.

"How long has it been?", was his next question, and Dwalin clearly hesitated then with an answer, "It's been three days, my friend.", and it was a shock, but Thorin didn't have the energy to feel it anymore, but Dwalin read the question on his face as always and quickly explained what had transpired after Azog had been killed, and of all the things he told him, one thing stuck out.

"...it...was a miracle when we found Fili alive. Tauriel had been with Kili and she had helped him already, been able to bring him down to the healers real quick after Azog had died. Beorn had appeared on Ravenhill then and had offered to take you down so that you may be dressed appropriately for the burial, everyone went with him. Everyone but Balin and me, we thought it important that someone closer to him than some elf or Iron Hills warrior would carry Fili down. For them he was a mere dwarf, we knew him for who he truly was, a prince of Erebor.", Dwalin had looked down then for a moment, too caught up in his grief, in the pain of having thought to have lost them all, especially the boys, that were his just as much as they were Thorin's.

They had both seen them grow, had both helped raise them, and for both brothers Dwalin had been more of a father than their own, too caught up in the horrors of Azalnubizar in his last years before his sickness had finally taken him back to the stone, "It felt like a lifetime that passed until we reached him, still laying on the ice below the watch tower of course. Eyes open. We both saw him fall, Thorin, we both know that this must have killed him...but when I picked him up, he was still warm. And he was breathing, as shallow and struggling as it was, he was alive."

And Dwalin told him more, about bringing the boys into the mountain, about Balin bargaining with the elves and men, acting regent where their king was still not awake. Told of Dain reigning in his soldiers and making it crystal clear whom they had pledged their loyalty to and where they belonged. 

And he finished the rapport with interesting news, "Stonehelm?", Thorin exclaimed in surprise, "He came?! And Fili is not awake yet? I would have believed the sheer presence of Stonehelm would be able rose him from the dead.", Dwalin chuckled, grateful for the humor in Thorin's voice.  
"Aye, Balin thought so, too. Brought him into their room, nothing happened. Nothing other than Bilbo getting angry with him. How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted and worn out. But the pain is bearable, I've had worse.", Dwalin didn't hesitate though or showed any kind of interest in decency when he pulled back the long blue coat Thorin had been wearing, laid out on his death bed, in this mourning tent, a thought that sent shivers down his back now.  
"He pushed a sword through your chest, Thorin. And your foot. It's a miracle. I can't explain it. I sent Ori to fetch Balin after he found and told me, I'm sure he'll come with some healers in no time.", they clasped hands again, relief prominent on their faces.

\--

Balin's first words to him were "By Mahal", immediately followed by "Fili will be bumbed that he was king for three days without being awake" before he pushed their foreheads together and told Thorin how thankful he was for this miracle.

The Iron Hills healer that checked him over then seemed frazzled with nerves, but explained in stuttered words that the tight bindings Oin had used on Thorin's wounds to prepare the body for proper burial clothing that would have come tomorrow must have stopped the bleeding, but he still had no explanation on how everyone could have thought that Thorin wasn't breathing anymore. 

Thorin didn't care anymore, the only thing he wanted was to see his boys and the brave little Hobbit that had staid with him until his last moment...well basically his last moment. The healer declared him fit to go up into the mountain, but making it clear that he would prefer Dwalin to stay at "his Majesty's side."

"Be assured, laddie. I am not going to leave his side in the upcoming time.", Dwalin reassured the younger dark haired dwarf and Thorin grimaced in joy, but still accepted Dwalin's shoulder to lean upon once he was standing on his own feet, his left one loudly protesting upon having to carry his weight upon a stab wound.

But he wasn't a dwarf for nothing and he made it up to the mountain and up to the royal quarters without having to rest once. By then news had spread like wildfire about his not so demise, and Dain's guards outside the king's quarters fell to their knees the second Dwalin rounded the corner with Thorin at his heels.

Thorin hadn't been surprised when Dwalin had led him up the stairs until they had reached the old quarters of his grandfather, of course they would treat their king in one of the safest rooms the mountain had to offer.

"My king.", the guards chorused just as the door behind them slammed open and Dain appeared, storm faced and grim as always, but there was a twitch in his lips when his grey eyes fell upon Thorin.  
"Cousin, I must say I am continously astounded about your stubborness, can't even die without making a mess.", Thorin rolled his eyes, but let Dain pat his shoulder once before letting him pass into the room. 

A room Thorin knew well, a wide room with a fireplace and couches and comfortable chairs, a checkers board still on the small table in the corner, the shelf still full of books, his grandparent's solar. Two doors were on either side of the room, leading to two bedrooms, the King's and the Queen's, for his grandfather's madness had spurned his wife away in the last decades of his life.

The only one in the solar was a wide eyed Bilbo Baggins, who was watching him with shaking hands where he was standing in the middle of the room.   
"I'll go and try find the rest of your company, and probably defuse some wild rumors about ghosts haunting the mountain.", Dain muttered and then left with a grateful grunt from Dwalin who closed the door behind their cousin from the Iron Hills.

Thorin didn't even notice them, too focused on hazel eyes, "Bilbo.", he spoke carefully, not knowing what to expect, part of was waiting for their little hobbit to start yelling at him, but Bilbo only slowly walked closer until he was able to reach out a hand towards him, carefully placing it upon his arm as if he was afraid he might break.

"Thorin...I...I can't believe. You were dead, you died in my hands.", Thorin smiled, reaching up a hand himself to rest upon the hobbit's shoulder, behind them Dwalin quietly slipped into the King's bedroom, while Balin remained behind.  
"I know, Bilbo, I know. I do not know what happened, but I am alive. There is much to talk about, I am sure, but I would prefer to see my nephews first.", Bilbo nodded in trance first and then shook his head to clear his mind, smiling happily then, filled with joy again, becoming their Burglar once more.

Bilbo took his hand, gently in his, as if he was still afraid Thorin might crumble right in front of his eyes, and then the gentle hobbit led him over to the room that Thorin had last seen as a dwarfling, but still remembered quite vividly. Dusty now, but still glowing with the riches his grandfather had surrounded himself with, the drapes and tapestry made out of gold and silver, the carpet made out of rich velvet fabrics.

But his eyes had no real look for the faded beauty and luxuries of the room and upon setting one step inside he was more than happy about the hobbit's steady presence at his side, because when his eyes fell upon the bed standing at the far end wall of the room, he was falling again.

Falling into endless pits, and he was back on Ravenhill. Back on the ice, staring helplessly as his golden haired nephew dangled from the hands of the Defiler, the sword that got pierced through his back. Fili falling, falling and falling.

And then nothing. Dead blue eyes staring at a sky filled with smoke. 

Bilbo's fingers squeezing his hand brought him back to the present again as the hobbit pulled him closer to the bed where Fili's motionless body was laying under crisp white sheets, and only his chest was rising and falling steadily. The only other dwarves in the room where Dwalin sitting on the edge of Fili's bed, Oin hovering next to him and Balin remaining at the door.

"He is stable, something Oin agrees on with the elven healers.", Bilbo explained when Oin refused to notice his waving, focused on checking over his patient, "Surprisingly and something I still cannot believe, Fili doesn't have broken bones, only severe bruising.", the hobbit's calm voice was like silk to his ears and his tortured mind, as Thorin smiled slightly and sat down on his nephew's other side.

"Dwarves are sturdy creatures. Nothing can break our bones easily.", Bilbo huffed upon his words but continued talking as if no one had interrupted him.  
"The elves were able to stitch up the wound in his back and stop any infection before it could have festered. All we need to do now is wait until he wakes up, but even they call it a miracle.", forcing his eyes away from Fili's pale but peaceful looking face for a moment, Thorin caught hazel eyes and tried to show his gratefulness in one look, every word he couldn't find to speak, but Bilbo nodded his head and smiled.

He had understood.

"It's a miracle I will gladly accept. Have they said any word about when he might wake up?", Bilbo shook his head and both of them looked back down at the young crown prince, it was Dwalin who spoke then, one hand clasped around the smaller one of the dwarf who had always looked up to him.  
"Thorin, we have seen dwarves with worse injuries wake up after a day or two, and we have seen dwarves less wounded only waking up after weeks. He will take his time.", his old friend answered.  
"And when he does, we will be here for him, helping. He will not be alone, Thorin.", Balin joined into their conversation and Thorin nodded, he wouldn't be alone, not like his father had been in the aftermath of their greatest loss of a battle, not like Vili had been.

Left alone with the terror in his mind because no one had known what to do, not after they had lost so many warriors and soldiers, brothers and friends. Dwalin and Balin unable to cope with the loss of their strong father, Thorin unable to know what to do after losing almost his entire family to the orcs. To Azog. Thror, Thrain, Frerin. 

Fili and Kili wouldn't be alone, they wouldn't have to wake up screaming in the night with no one around to fight off the demons. No shadow would fall over them. Thorin wouldn't let it, he had failed them enough times already, he wouldn't do it again.

"Kili?", he asked then, turning to look into the faces of his friends, Dwalin closed his eyes for a moment before he looked down at Fili's unmoving fingers in his again, and it told Thorin more than he wanted to know.  
"He is fighting.", Bilbo told him, quiet now his voice, "He is lucky, as always.", Balin added as well, "The elves are doing everything they can for him, but it's still up to him if he pulls through.", Thorin knew that he should be grateful for their honesty, that no one lied to him, that no one told him everything was going to be okay, that Kili was not still on the brink of death.

But it hurt.

Because of all of them, Kili deserved to die the least. He was still so young, and he should have never come onto this journey, he should have never let Fili convince him to take Kili with them. He had come so close to losing him too many times already. 

"Go and see him, Thorin. I'll stay here.", Dwalin offered and Thorin nodded, getting back to his feet and following Balin and Bilbo out off the room, only to be stopped some feet before the door to his grandmother's former private rooms. Bilbo laid a hand on his chest to keep him from making a turn around him and Balin cleared his throat.  
"Thorin...", the white haired dwarf, his friend, his advisor, the closest thing to a mentor Thorin had had, he hesitated but then straightened his spine and looked up at him, Thorin raised a brow, "You do remember the red haired captain of Thranduil's guard?"

"Of course.", he answered, it was hard not to remember her, especially not since she had turned up on Ravenhill to aid his fighting nephew, "Dwalin told me that she saved Kili. That she killed Bolg after he had presumbly killed Kili.", if his voice shook even slightly, no one made any mention of it, instead Bilbo and Balin exchanged a look, and it was the hobbit who spoke next.

"She is no longer a captain, or an elf of the Woodland Realm.", upon Thorin's confused look, Bilbo explained further, "Thranduil banished her for going after us, exiled her again after the battle was over and she refused to leave Kili's side. I was there, Thorin...well, Balin and I, we both were, and the elven king did tell her...Tauriel that a love like this is not something he can accept. He never wants to see her again. And...", and once more words failed Bilbo and Balin took over.

"We granted her a place among us. Thorin, she loves Kili, she saved his life, and I do believe that everyone who will dare to take them apart will feel the wrath of more than one dwarf or elf.", it was silent for a long moment, between them in the room and inside Thorin's own head, he still hated the elven king, still despised Thranduil for everything he had never done, but he couldn't bring himself to feel the same hatred for the red haired she-elf. Not for the one who had sacrificed her own life to save his nephew, who had saved his life twice. And without thinking about it. Or the consequences it might bring her.

He couldn't trust her, not now, not fully, not until he saw with his own eyes that her intentions were pure, but he nodded when Balin's and Bilbo's looks turned more inquisitive, "She can stay at his side, I will not break them apart. I nearly lost them to an enemy I can't fight against, I can still lose Kili to him, I will not fight against an elf over him as well.", Balin breathed out in relief and Bilbo almost smiled in joy again.

"Come, I will not keep you from seeing him any longer.", and Thorin followed Bilbo into the room with the giant window leading out to the Queen's balcony, because his grandmother had loved how the sun shone off the jewels in her necklaces and rings.

\--

Kili is worse off. 

He saw it the moment he stepped into the Queen's private room and found his younger nephew laying trembling and sickly pale on the bed, skin glistening with the sweat of his fever. Elven healers were silently bustling around the room under the watchful and all seeing eye of the red haired ex-captain of the guard, who was sitting in the window niche next to the door that led to the sun filled balcony his grandmother had loved so much.

Thorin didn't pay Tauriel much attention though, instead he followed Balin slowly to Kili's bedside, "We believe that Bolg's sword was poisoned, again I must say. A morgul blade again. Were it not for Tauriel's quick thinking, there wouldn't have been anything left for us to hope for.", Balin's gentle eyes turned to smile at the captain who merely inclined her head, Thorin turned to look at her as well and him she faced with a straightened spine.

"I thank you, Tauriel. For saving my nephew's life twice.", once more she inclined her head and Thorin did the same before he sat down on the chair next to Kili's bed. He didn't see the way Bilbo tensed shoulders sagged in relief before the hobbit walked over to stand at his back.  
"He is fighting.", Tauriel's voice floated through the room when Thorin reached for a clammy hand, "He is strong and stubborn.", spoken in fondness and Thorin almost smiled, "It still is a long way, but I do believe he can make it."

Bilbo's hands came to rest on his shoulders as if drawn there and when he squeezed lightly, Thorin felt himself able to breathe easier, needing the hobbit to ground him to the stone he had grown up on. A part of him wanted to take him to the side, somewhere they would be alone, to talk to him, to look at him, to make right what had been made wrong, but he knew he had time, he knew that Bilbo didn't look as though he wanted to go anywhere else.

He couldn't be so sure about his nephews at the moment.

Especially not about Kili, whose struggle to hold onto life was visible in every tremor that racked through his body. Kili. Their little squirrel. His free spirited young nephew. His battered heart couldn't think about the small chance that he might lose him.

Not him, he had always brought hope and light into their lives. Had always been the one Thorin had found strength in to carry on, in him and Fili. Silently he watched the weak breathing of the dark haired dwarf, and listened with one ear to the conversations of the healers, Balin and Bilbo around him and with the other one to his sister's voice inside his head. To words she had spoken to him long ago.

If I didn't know any better I would say he is your son, nadad, from the tips of his hair to the shape of his feet, he is all you. Only the temper and the brooding, he lost out on that one. That our Maker send to Fili. Do not ever forget how important they are, do not ever forget that to them you mean more than any gold in this world.

And he had failed her.

When he got back from his thoughts, most healers had left to grab more herbs and linen and to look for their other patients outside the mountain, men and elves alike. His blue eyes remained fixed on his sister-son, he hadn't seen him so still, so unmoving, as trembling and shivering as he lay before him now in over five decades. 

He had been a sickly child, born too early, born in the middle of a harsh winter, it had taken him time to grow into himself, to find his inner strength. And even though he had been reckless, nothing had ever happened, always lucky. His brother had been the one majorly injured more than a couple of times. It had been Fili Thorin had spent days and nights watching over after a hunting accident or a cave downfall. And Dis, Dwalin, Balin and him had only managed to stay hopeful through those dark times because of the young and cheery faced dwarfling who had never failed to be optimistic.

Becauwe Fiwi iw stwong. Fiwi gonna be king. No one can huwt Fiwi.

He could only hope the same applied to Kili now.

"I know this is much to ask, but I would like to have some time with my nephew alone.", his voice was stronger than he would have given himself credit for, but when he looked around the room he knew that his desperation was clear to see on his face. The one remaining elven healer inclined his head in respect and spoke about looking over Fili's progress, Balin left the room with him, knowing why Thorin felt so helpless.

Bilbo squeezed his shoulder one last time before he approached the clearly hesitating she-elf by the windows, "Come, my dear. Some fresh air will do both of us quite good. And there is still the matter of lost swords and daggers, your keen eyes will surely see more than my old hobbit ones.", throwing one last long look over to Kili, Tauriel nodded after a moment and turned to follow Bilbo from the room, closing the door behind herself.

And when their footsteps weren't noticable anymore, Thorin closed his eyes and lowered his head into his hands, listening to the struggled breathing of his younger nephew.   
"You have to hold on, Kili. If not for me, then for your brother.", the returned king whispered into the room, dragging both hands over his face before he dropped them upon the edge of the bed, letting them hover close to the twitching one of his younger heir.

"Fili is alive, you hear me, inùdoy? Your brother is alive and fighting just like you, and when you both wake up and get better, he will need you. We will both need you at our side.", he had often found himself imagining a time after they had taken Erebor back under Durin rule, even as their journey had gotten more difficult and straining with every further step, he had never tired to see himself on the throne of his forfathers. 

But never without his nephews by his side. Never without Fili and Kili at his side. 

"I know I have failed you countless times in these last months, failed you and your brother, but you most of all. I put the mountain, put a kingdom, put a stone before you, when I should have put Fili and you on top of everything.", he raised a hand to push a strand of hair out of Kili's feverish face, "I treated you like it didn't mean much to me whether you lived or die, but you have to believe me that I was wrong, that I didn't mean it. No one in this world is more important to me than your mother, your brother and you.", resting his fingers on Kili's cheek, Thorin sighed deeply, keeping blue eyes focused on closed brown ones.

"I wouldn't be here without the three of you. I would have never made it so far, and I know with all my heart that without you I won't be able to make it any further now. I've got Erebor back, but I do not want it if the prize is to lose Fili and you. We're gonna make it through this, I promise you that I will never let you doubt my love again. An uncle first and a king second. Just wake up, Kili, just wake up.", it had been centuries since he had last begged for something, half delirious in his search for his little brother on the battlefield after it had been over, but he had never found a sign of Frerin anywhere. 

He couldn't think, not even for a second, of losing the one dwarf who had made him stop looking back to the brother he had lost, who was so similar to the uncle he had never known. And then, just as Thorin hung his head again, he caught sight of moving lips and his hands grabbed Kili's right one quickly, for some seconds Kili's lips only moved mutely, no sound escaping them, but then he rasped out "Thorin...", and the king under the mountain almost choked as the son got caught in his lungs.

"I'm here. I'm here, Kili.", he squeezed his nephew's hand and closed his eyes as the burning sensation of tears threatened to overwhelm him, he knew that Kili was fighting in his fever dreams, but maybe he was if only slightly aware of what was going on around him, and he tried to find strength in that thought.

"I'm always gonna be here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it and if there are any questions, please feel free to message me here or reach out to me on tumblr. You can find me there either under princessedurin or aceofhearts
> 
> Thank you


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here comes chapter two. I have shifted some dates around, most will be mentioned and explained, but I think the most important thing that I changed is the date of the Battle of Azanulbizar. I shifted it forward quite a bit and set it onto the same day as Kili's birth.
> 
> That is probably the most important change, I'll let you know if there is anything else. Have fun reading!

Ravenhill looked peaceful almost, a wretched ruin halfway between Dale and Erebor, but now where the dead dwarves, elves and men had been laid to rest according to their customs, where the dead orcs, goblins, trolls and wargs had been burned, the former gruesome battlefield looked serene and calm even.

Four days after Azog had led his army to his attack on Erebor and Durin's line, the death had been cleared from the fields and only the desolation that Smaug had left behind remained. The people of Lake-Town had begun with rebuilding the city of Dale to make a home for the winter that was upon them now, not a day passed where it didn't snow for an hour or two. 

Of the Elves only the hand full of healers remained in Erebor and Dale, rotating around to take care of the injured people of Men and the royal dwarves of Erebor. And of course the red haired She-Elf whom Bilbo found walking next to him now as they climbed upon the heights of the old and nearly entirely destroyed watch tower now, Tauriel helped him up the destroyed staircase and the slippery gaps, walking at a sedate pace the rest of the way so that the hobbit found no trouble in keeping up with her.

Tauriel was quiet, just as Bilbo had got to know her over the last couple of days, quiet but watchful, gentle but alert at all times, she had watched over Kili like a hawk while the healers her former king had sent had checked over him. Over Fili she had watched as well, had split her time between both brothers in the beginning while Balin and Dwalin had been too caught up in their grief over a lost friend, while the dwarves's mistrust towards the healers from Mirkwood had still made them very uncomfortable.

Bilbo was thankful about her silence though, for it let him bring some rest to his own mind, soothing the turmoil that had been stormed up in it since Ori had come running to the mountain some hours ago, screaming for Balin and him the moment he stepped foot into Erebor. Thorin was alive, alive and well, and walking and talking. He hadn't lost him, and just as it did earlier his heart jumped again when he thought of those powerful blue eyes again.

It seemed unreal, and he wanted nothing more than to run back into the royal chambers to stare at the king again, but he knew that Thorin would only focus on his nephews for now, he had thought them lost forever. And Bilbo understood, he was longing for both of them to wake up as well, because he knew that Thorin would never forgive himself if they didn't, and he also knew that he would never be the same if Fili and Kili didn't live.

He pushed those thoughts away though, he had time, they had time again, he would have his chance to talk to Thorin, for now he was content to find distraction. They had reached the top of the ice plateau, where Azog had died, where Thorin had supposedly died in his arms. Contrary to the rest of the battlefield, the dead had not been burned here yet, Azog's dead body was still rotting away at the side of the ice, watched by a flock of ravens that followed their movements with curious eyes for a few seconds before they deemed them uninteresting and innocent.

"I will go and see if Kili dropped something in his fight against Bolg.", Tauriel spoke up them and gestured to the right, "I lost a dagger myself. Master Gloin gave me a tinderbox, asking me to burn the bodies of the enemy.", Bilbo nodded, patting her twitching hand for a moment, he was glad no one had asked him, he had enough of death for a lifetime.  
"Then I will see to the tower, look for dear Fili's weapons.", none had been found, not one dagger, not one throwing axe, his body had been stripped of everything but his clothes when Azog had captured him.

"I will be with you in no time, Master Baggins.", Tauriel said and vanished before Bilbo could have corrected her and asked her to call him by his given name, so he huffed and walked over to the wooden staircase leading up to the tower. Intend to make his way from top to bottom, he whole heartedly ignored the streak of dead orcs on his way up.

\--

It was strange, strange to stand on top of the old watch tower, almost in the exact place Azog had been standing just four days ago, holding Fili up into the air like a doll before the sword had pierced his back. Looking down at the plateau where he had been standing along Thorin and Dwalin, unable to stop the horror to happen right in front of their eyes, unable to stop Kili when the younger ran to avenge his older brother, not a second after Fili's still body had fallen onto the ice.

It felt like a lifetime ago. And he felt older than just four days since the battle had claimed so many lives, and he could only send prayer after prayer to Yavanna that it hadn't been anyone he knew. None of them had come out of the battle uninjured, even Dwalin had been forced to admit after four hours that the scratch on the back of his head might have needed to be looked after, and even Tauriel, quick on her feet and lightning reflexes that she was, even she had let Oin look over a bruise on her shoulder as much fussing from the dwarven healer.

But only Oin had been allowed to approach her. Not any of the Woodland Realm healers and if that didn't speak about her true loyalty, Bilbo had no idea what would. Pushing the dark thoughts from his head, he pushed his nose into the sun, cold as it was in this approaching winter, it still managed to warm his face a little.

It was over, it was over and now came the time where he knew again what to do with himself. Bilbo wasn't a fighter, but an organizer, a medical helper, a searcher, someone to tidy up, someone to help bring a message, someone to give comfort, that he could be. And would be, because alive and on his feet as Thorin was, okay he wasn't, and Bilbo had seen it with just one look into blue eyes.

He sighed, turning to look over the ground of the destroyed tower's top room, pushing snow away from the ground with his feet, while he thought. He would keep an eye on Thorin, make sure he knew that he would be there to talk if the need arose, he knew that Thorin had made peace with the world as much as it had been possible, he had presumbly died in peace with himself, and Bilbo could not imagine how someone could go on now.

Thorin had died as a warrior, doing the one thing he had always done in his life since Erebor fell, he had been fighting, but now there was a peace. Erebor didn't need a warrior, Erebor needed a king. But the hobbit also knew that Thorin wouldn't be alone on the throne, not alone in leading a kingdom back to the glory of a time long gone, he had his friends and family around himself. And Bilbo Baggins had decided anyhow that he wouldn't go home until the winter was over.

Bending down to pick up a silver throwing axe carved with the Durin crest on its handle, Bilbo stopped overthinking everything, chastising himself for not shutting his head up when all he had wanted was to get some fresh air and busy his hands with a mundane task. A mundane task with a reason, the older Durin brother might have been the more responsible one, the calmer one, but weeks and weeks on a quest together had told Bilbo one or two things about the golden haired prince.

Fili was only the calmer one when there was a dagger or a throwing axe or a knife somewhere on him, preferrably in his hands when he was nervous or on edge. Had that not been the case, the time in Mirkwood's dungeons had been a good example, then the oh so calm older brother could become a thousand times more exhausting and annoying than his cheeky little brother.

And though these weapons were not the ones Fili had brought with himself on the quest, forged by his uncle, Dwalin and himself in the Blue Mountains, they still meant a lot to him and would calm his nerves upon waking up. Because just like his uncle, Fili had seen his death coming, had accepted it to keep his family safe, the only one who had been more or less surprised by it with no time to prepare himself had been Kili.

And he was fighting the hardest battle now.

\--

Bilbo worked himself through the top floor and then he moved to the staircase, almost admiring Fili for the sheer amount of small weapons he had been able to store within his armor, but when he found Tauriel on the bottom of the staircase, his own arms loaded with daggers and small axes, no hands for another one, he saw that he might have been the only one sharing in that sentiment.

The She-elf looked a little stunned as she leaned down to pick up another gleaming silver dagger with a sapphire in Durin's colors embedded in the handle. She snorted even when upon straightening up again, she caught sight of another one dropped on the floor, catching the hobbit's amused hazel eyes, Tauriel rolled her own.

"I cannot believe someone would see the need for such a developed arsenal in throwing knives, axes and daggers. I cannot imagine a fight where this would be useful.", she spoke in a tone that showed just how fond she was next to all that disbelief, the belt of her tunic was stuffed full and under Bilbo's curious glance the two newest weapons disappeared under the green and brown tunic.

Bilbo himself had no idea what to do with his load of Fili's weapons.

"It calms him to have them near. I do believe it is more for the sake of his mind than for actual use. And after all this time I spent with dwarves, I am starting to believe that it is their equivalent of jewelry. Hobbits tend to wear flower crowns or bracelets to make themselves feel pretty, maybe dwarves choose to wear daggers.", Tauriel looked at him for a few seconds and then gestured with her hands to his arms and her belt.

"Fili still has a problem.", the former captain spoke up and Bilbo laughed, yeah maybe he did, but everyone had their small tics and habits were hard to break sometimes. They finished looking over the bottom floor, Tauriel almost let out a sound close to a exasperated whine when she caught sight of another set of daggers, before they were sure that they had everything. And then Bilbo waited patiently until the elven maid had rushed through the tower once more to set the dead orcs on fire.

\--

They returned to the mountain barely two hours after they had gone, and Nori was more than happy to take the sharp weapons out of Bilbo's unexperienced hands once they had stepped through the gates that were in progress of being repaired.

"We've just been to see Thorin and the lads. Ori stayed, Dori went to help again.", the mysterious dwarf pointed out to them, nodding for them to follow him back to the royal apartments. Bilbo was starting to get the hang of the corridors in the mountain, remembering certain structures and runes on the wall, but he was still nowhere close to finding his way on his own.

Tauriel fared even worse, Bilbo had heard her telling Kili how much the dark corridors confused her, but he knew that she would grew used to it. She was still young, and with both princes surely eager to discover their kingdom, she would soon have help in learning. Bilbo himself was hoping to have someone special show him some corridors, someone who knew these corridors better than the lands around it.

Before his head could loose itself again though, they reached the door to the royal apartments and one of the guards opened them for them, exchanging some quick words with Nori in Khuzdul that the former thief acknowledged with a quick nod.  
"Everything okay?", Bilbo wanted to know when he closed the door behind them again, Tauriel immediately went to Kili's room again, while Nori turned to Bilbo.  
"Nothing important.", Nori flashed a grin at him, Bilbo narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but Ori appeared in the doorframe to Fili's room before he could have said a word.

\--

Two hours later, Thorin was gone to mend whatever argument had broken out between Balin and Dain and Nori had gone with him, probably eager to get some good gossip out of it. The elven healers had gone back to the remaining camps outside the mountain for the day, so Oin had full control over his two patients back.

Tauriel had handed her collected amount of Fili's weapons over to Dwalin before laying down on the couch in the corner of Kili's temporary room to get some rest, and aside from the quiet moans the dark haired dwarf let out once in a while, the former Queen's chambers were silent and dark now, only Oin checked in then and now to keep an eye on Kili's fever.

In Fili's room, they had found a little merrier gathering, even if the blond heir was still unconscious and completely still, Ori had built himself a little nest at the end of Fili's bed, his nose stuck in parchments, his hand writing some runes down in his little book at times.

In the armchairs by the fireplace, Bilbo and Dwalin had sat down with the daggers, knives and throwing axes and after a short speech of what not to do, the tall warrior had let the hobbit help him clean the weapons Bilbo had collected with Tauriel on Ravenhill. While Bilbo and Ori chatted over several topics though, Dwalin remained silent, lost in his own thoughts while he wiped dirt and blood off of blades and polished handles.

It wasn't what Fili longed for, but it would have to be enough until they could get any chance to get their weapons back out of that damn elven forest. His own hands longed for the feel of the two axes he had held almost his entire life, the axes he had killed hundreds in Azanulbizar with, but he somehow felt more dread over knowing that the one of a kind twin swords Thorin had fashioned for his older nephew as a coming off age present were possibly rotting away in some dungeon in the weed eaters palace.

Or the set of daggers he had made for both Durin brothers. He wasn't a melancholic person, he liked to think practical, but when it came to the boys, even Dwalin wasn't able to remain cold and distant. He had raised them as he would have raised his own sons. He had taught them everything he knew about the world they were living in, and he had seen them grow up, turning into the wonderful young dwarves they were now.

And his heart burned and ached when he saw them now, injured and unconscious and such a far cry from the mischievious and devilish lads they usually were. And every time he had looked at them in the last days, he didn't see the fighters anymore that had fought alongside him in this battle, not the courageous young princes ready to face down an army of orcs all by themselves to make sure their king lived.

He saw two tiny dwarflings toddling after him, tiny fingers tightly holding onto a sleeve or a tunic as not to get lost in the big wide world. And somehow he wished to be back in Ered Luin, back some seventy years ago when things had still been easy.

\--

Flashback

\--

"One might thing the greatest warrior of Durin's folk has gone soft.", looking up from where he had been sitting on the ground in front of the fireplace in the house Thorin shared with his sister's small family, Dwalin glowered up at his oldest friend but quickly lost the fearsome expression again when a small sticky hand tugged on the braid in his beard again.

"It's all just tactic to make them think they have a chance against me.", Thorin chuckled upon the answer, a sound still new almost to Dwalin's ear, his friend hadn't had much time to be anything else but cold and in control over his emotions since he had become their folk's king only two years ago.

Thorin moved further into the living room, immediately Fili perked up where he had been reading in the latest book Balin had left for him, blond hair bouncing around his face when he scrambled down to hurry over to his uncle who scooped him up with a smile upon his tired face. On the ground young Kili still remained oblivious, completely engrossed in the wooden toy soldiers.

"Good luck with that.", Thorin grunted when he sat down next to him, placing Fili on his lap and reaching out a hand to tossle Kili's dark hair, the two year old looked up and grinned a toothy smile, Dwalin snorted and hid his eye roll by leaning his face on top of Kili's head. Thorin turned his attention to his older nephew, "So, what have the two of you been up to today?"

"Mister Dwalin let us draw on his arms with ink.", Fili started to babble excitedly, telling his hard working uncle about his day, and Dwalin leaned back against the chair behind him, Kili pushed the toy soldier away and stuck his thumb into his mouth, snuggling against his chest, one hand going up to grab his braid, seeking comfort in the familiar feel of the metal under his tiny fingers.

And neither warrior, nor king, ever wanted this time to end.

\--

Flashback End

\--

Raising his head again and looking over to the bed at the other side of the room, Dwalin tried to keep his hands from shaking when only once more he couldn't find blue eyes staring back at him. He would wake up, both of them would, and soon enough their tricks and ideas would drive him crazy again, nothing would change. He still had Fili and Kili in his life, he hadn't lost them.

"Stuck in the past?", a deep voice called out to him just a second before a strong hand came down to rest upon his shoulder and Dwalin looked to his right to find his brother's gentle gaze locked onto his face, Bilbo had vanished from his side. He must have switched to the chair next to Ori while Dwalin had been thinking, "I think you could use some rest yourself, nadadith.", Balin spoke softly, there was no way Bilbo or Ori could hear him, but still Dwalin grunted and wrenched his attention back to the dagger in his hands.

"If not rest for yourself, then maybe do me a favor and see to it that Thorin will? Lad's not listening to me as always, but I have things under control and he needs to take it easy.", frowning down at the dagger, Dwalin waited until his brother's hand had disappeared from his shoulder again.  
"What happened?", he inquired to know and Balin sighed, prompting the tall warrior to glance over to him, surprised by the almost sheepish look on the older dwarf's face, "What did you do?"  
"Disagreed with Dain over the housing of his men, nothing for you to worry about, but Thorin has to realize that as much as his input is welcome and longed for, and as much as we want to see him take control and sit upon the throne, he has to get rest. He hasn't been back from the dead for ten hours yet."

"Aye, where is he now?"

"He went to talk to Nori.", Balin spoke clearly but still Dwalin snapped his head around to look at him, and even Bilbo and Ori turned silent suddenly and it wasn't only Dwalin who echoed the dwarf's name back at the returned king's advisor.  
"Nori?", Ori spoke up as well, eyebrows raised in his surprised face, Balin shrugged though.  
"Thorin has always seen a gain in Nori's...abilities rather than a nuisance. Your brother has a knack for finding information in the smallest of gesture, he is very useful for a young kingdom."

"Aye, surely he'll find out if those snubby stinking Iron Hills eels are planning an assasination attempt way before they even know about it themselves.", but what Dwalin had meant to be a true compliment and praise to the star haired dwarf was met by three hard glares and a slap to the back of his head that could only come from one person when his brother was sitting next to him.  
"Don't even dare to set these thoughts into anyone's heads, Dwalin.", Dori admonished him and Dwalin growled, "We just got our king back and the princes aren't even yet awake, let's focus on the joy over Thorin's miracle before setting our thoughts back to wild theories. It's bad enough that Nori is paranoid."

"Nori is never paranoid without a reason. I might have spend half of Fili's, Kili's and Ori's lives chasing Nori from one end of the Ered Luin to the other one, but I have also learned that when Nori sees a conspiracy theory then there is one.", his words were followed by an incredulous stare that Dori sent over to Balin who shrugged his shoulders in return.

Never able to rest the lot of them.

"Do not encourage him, Dwalin. Anyway, I came to take Ori away again, Dain's men found a stack of parchments while clearing rubble away by the armory, and we think someone should look over them. And you need rest.", Dori shot towards Balin when the older dwarf opened his mouth to argue, "You have been running yourself thin over the last days, give some responsibility to the young. Ori can just as well throw on eye on those parchment.", scrambling from the bed and collecting his things, Ori nodded to Bilbo, Dwalin and Balin before he rushed from the room, Dori right behind him.

\--

A little later, Thorin returned, looking a little tired but without a frown on his face and after a short private conversation between him and Balin, Bilbo and him took up seats in Kili's room again, watching quietly just as Tauriel did, while Balin and Dwalin staid with Fili. The hobbit had snatched up the book again that Ori had given him, the first one he had found in Westron. Sitting on the couch Tauriel had left in order to occupy the end of Kili's bed, he had been reading up on the treasured poems about Dwarven culture.

Up until Thorin broke the silence in the room.

"There is a favor I want to ask, but I do not know whom to direct it to.", looking up from his book, Bilbo found Thorin glancing at Tauriel with barely hidden curiosity, just as much as Tauriel was barely able to hide her confusion.  
"A favor? I will try my utmost to help, King Thorin if...", but he interrupted her before she could have finished her sentence and Bilbo braced himself for danger, Thorin seemed alright with Tauriel's presence, but then again he had only come back from the dead, who knows if his mind had finally caught up with him.

"Thorin.", he corrected her gently and Bilbo found his breath stuck in his throat, he saw Dwalin frozen in the doorframe where he had just been about to step into the room, "Just Thorin is enough, I have heard of what you did for my nephew, my kin, what prize you had to pay for it. And still you are here, worried for his life.", Tauriel shifted uncomfortably and Bilbo and Dwalin exchanged a look, this was either going horribly wrong or finally somewhere right for Erebor's king, "I can see that you care for him. I do want to make clear though that I have still not forgiven Thranduil for what he has done to my people, I do not like him, I do not like elves, but I am making an exception for someone who cherished the safety of my kin more than her own wellbeing and her position as a captain of the guard. You have my thanks and my respect, Tauriel.", Bilbo felt his mouth fall open and quite unashamed he stared at Thorin with wide eyes.

Somewhere right then.

"And I would call you a dwarven friend if you accept. Offer you a place amoung us in the mountain where the forest of Mirkwood can no longer be home to you.", there was a long silence when Thorin was finished with his words and watched Tauriel's reaction, the elven maid was struck speechless for a long while, until she blinked twice and then inclined her head in what Bilbo could easily see as deep gratitude.  
"I am deeply touched by the honor, Thorin Oakenshield. And I am glad to know that there is still a place I will be welcomed to call home."

"There is a braid, my nephew will surely be eager to show it to you once he is awoken, though I must warn you, he is not the best or patient one when it comes to braiding. You should enlist the help of his brother.", a fond smile graced Thorin's face and Bilbo pinched himself for good measure.  
"Aye, lassie, I would recommend it dearly.", Balin's cheerful voice made everyone in the room but the unconscious prince jump, even Dwalin clearly flinched in surprise upon hearing his brother so suddenly behind him, "Have you talked to her yet, laddie?"

"No, I haven't. I was easing myself into it.", Bilbo and Dwalin both raised their eyebrows at Thorin, but the king refused to catch their eyes and instead focused back on the puzzled looking elf, "My company and I have been wondering on the whereabouts and states of the weapons we carried into Mirkwood. Prince Legolas returned Orcrist to me in the height of the battle, but the rest of our weapon stay unaccounted for. King Thranduil has written Balin that he is willing to return them if he knew where they were, but that his captain took care of them."

"I did.", Tauriel admitted, nodding quickly as it situation became clearer to her, "Aside from Orcrist, they were all safely locked away in a chest in the treasury."  
"Some of those weapons have a deep sentimental meaning. Many of us have fought with them in Azanulbizar already, I have forged my nephews' weapons myself. It would mean a lot to my company and myself if there was a way those could be returned to us. I know that it is not possible for you to return to the Palace, Thranduil expressed his opinion more than once already, but it would mean a lot to me if you would do me the favor of writing a letter to one of your former soldiers on where they could find the key and the chest."

Bilbo was for one astonished over the calm tone in Thorin's voice and even more surprised over the non existent wariness towards the former elven captain. He was trying to accept her, his mind offered him and Bilbo answered it with a smile on his face, Thorin was trying, what more could they want. 

On Tauriel's face you could clearly and easily see the relief, all of them could probably guess that she had expected something far more difficult and uncomfortable than simply writing a letter. She smiled, the first one she had offered Thorin, and nodded.  
"Of course. I would be honored to help you and your company with your weapons. If someone could help me in finding a parchment and ink, I will surely finish this letter right away.", Dwalin grunted to make himself noticeable again.  
"I'll look for Ori.", and he left the room, while Balin walked over to the red haired elf and patted her knee, in the same loving fashion Bilbo had seem him do it countless times with Fili and Kili.

"I am thankful, Tauriel. Has someone given you a temporary room yet?", even though the question was worded for Tauriel, Thorin directed it at Balin and Bilbo, the hobbit though shrugged, he had spent his nights on the couch in the solar between Fili's and Kili's rooms, and he had never seen Tauriel leave these rooms either until he had taken her to Ravenhill.

"I haven't found a non destroyed room yet that includes a bed with non dwarven standards.", Balin apologized and he almost looked bashful, even though Tauriel didn't look affronted at all, Bilbo knew that she wouldn't have made a step away from Kili voluntarily anyway, own room or not, "The guest rooms have almost all been fully destroyed by Smaug's rampage.", leaning back in his chair at Kili's left side, Thorin pulled up another one and begged Bilbo closer, Tauriel shifted her weight on the foot end of Kili's bed to get more comfortable again.

"I'm sure we will find a solution soon.", Thorin answered, he seemed a little tired, Bilbo swore to himself that he would convince him to get some more rest soon, but for now he sat down next to the king, seeking comfort simply in his presence, "If you want it, I will include the wish to have your belongings brought here as well."

"I would be most thankful."

\--

Ori stumbled into the room not fifteen minutes later, arms still full with parchments that Balin immediately took from him, not caring how much the young scribe whined about his brother killing him if he found out. Balin simply rolled his eyes and vanished, Thorin and Dwalin had shared a look, overeager to get control and an overview.

And then when Bilbo offered to watch over Fili again and Tauriel went to write her letter, chatting quietly and amicably with Ori, Thorin found time to take a small walk through the royal apartments, unaware at first that Dwalin followed him. He looked at closed doors, down empty corridors and thought back to what had been once in a time, where these rooms and halls had been filled with life and laughter, even at the height of Thror's sickness. Even shortly before Smaug's attack on the mountain, his sister had still run away shrieking from her mother's attempts to brush her hair into something resembling a proper princess worthy braid.

And Frerin had stood leaning against the door of their father's solar, tears of joy running down his face, oh his reckless little brother...But despite the pain inside his heart that still burned hot whenever he thought of the brother he had lost way too early, Thorin smiled as his fingers curled around the door handle of Frerin's old rooms.

And for a moment he didn't step into an old dusty empty room that hadn't seen a soul in over a century, for a moment he is back in his youth, his sister is jumping up and down the bed, disturbing her brother's parchments, while Frerin is wildly yelling at her to finally cut it out. Despite all the madness flowing in the king's mind, they had been happy, they had been loved. They had been home.

The hand on his shoulder drew him back to the present and Thorin blinked twice until his eyes once more saw the heavy dust on the room, turning around he found Dwalin's grey eyes staring back at him, knowing, understanding.

"One day we will bring him home. One day his bones will rest in Erebor's stone. Frerin will come home just like we did.", Thorin nodded, walking over to the bed to pick up the dusty doll that his sister must have left in her brother's room some days before the dragon came. Carefully picking it up, he pushed the dust off the neatly woven creature, his grandmother had made it herself, for the little lass that had been born into Durin's line, the first one in centuries.

"It's weird you know, I had feared to hear their voices at every corner. Thror's, Thrain's, Grandmother's, Amad's, Fundin's. Had feared to see Frerin's laughing face every time I turned into a corridor, to see Dis chasing after him with her dolls in her hands, calling for me to get my sword, but it doesn't happen.", he calmly spoke and gently pushed the doll into his coat, he would bring it to Fili's bedside, so that both his nephews had something of their mother's close, "Instead I feel free.", he admitted and turned to look at Dwalin, "For the first time in decades I can speak his name without feeling as if my heart gets ripped from my chest. I can remember the good times."

"Aye.", Dwalin quietly agreed, turning his eyes to look around the room in fondness as well, "I do feel the same. I can recall so many times now where Dis turned up on the trainings yard, threw one hard look towards my father before dragging me off because the two of you had annoyed her once more. There were days where I spent more time in here arguing with her over why I could not behead my princes even if she wished it dearly than training.", a true and carefree laugh bubbled from Thorin's chest and he could even ignore the dull throb in it for a moment.

"Balin and I, we returned to our family's rooms the morning you woke up. And it felt less terrifying than I had expected, remembering them doesn't hurt anymore. Have you thought about which rooms you will give to the lads? Which room you will take yourself? Give to Dis?", Thorin welcomed the topic change, they had never been overly emotional with each other, sometimes a few words were enough.

"No, I haven't. There is so much to delegate, so much to decide upon. The small things have to wait.", he said, but Dwalin snorted, walking over to the armchair in the corner, letting his fingers slowly wander over the dusty fabric.  
"Sometimes the small things can give you enough rest to decide upon the bigger problems. Look, Thorin, whether Balin nor I are going to let you down into the treasury. The elven king has given us time to handle our affairs first before handing over those blasted white gems, the bargeman is content with the gold Balin has given him so far, at least for now. Bofur might be a goof most of the time, but he has really taken control over the rebuilding process. Dori is running around like a bewildered nursemaid, making sure everyone gets rest. And Dain has sworn his men to help.", Thorin didn't know when he had last heard Dwalin speak so much, but he still sighed when his old friend, the only one he had never been able to hide his weakness and his fears from, walked over to him and laid a strong hand upon his shoulder.

They needed to talk, badly so, Thorin knew that neither him nor Dwalin had yet forgotten the moment in the throne room when a gold sick leader had even if clumsily drawn his sword on his best friend and greatest warrior. He could still hear Dwalin's words echoing in his ears, could still hear the meaning behind them. You have changed, and this is not the king I followed home, this is not the friend I supported all my life. And if you cannot be strong for them, I know who will.

And then he had turned around and had gone, but Thorin knew that the image of his strongest friend with tears of hurt and betrayal in his eyes would still haunt him for a while, just as much as the broken expression on Kili's face when he had screamed at him upon his return to the front gate. Still more even was he even now haunted by the look of utter disgust on his older nephews face as he had gone to keep him from hurling Bilbo over the battlements.

He knew without doubt that if he hadn't fought himself out of his misery and madness, if he had only taken some more minutes, then Dwalin and Kili would have rallied his company behind Fili.

"You have barely been back three days, Thorin. You need rest, you came back from the dead. Let my brother and Dain handle the important things for now, let Ori tell you of what they have been doing all day, but please take it easy and focus on the non important decisions. You know that none of us would ever decide something over your head, not even Dain or his grumpy son.", he fully ignored the thickheaded dislike of his young namesake.  
"Aye, I will. I am tired.", it was less hard to admit it then Thorin had believed, he was tired, and though he couldn't hear the gold calling anymore, he still feared it, still feared the blindness and the insanity in his mind to return.

"Then, go, find a place in Fili's room with Bilbo. Answer his questions, figure out where you want to stay. I'm not saying to remain idle, but get your strength back and then be king.", once more they brought their heads together and Thorin sighed, throwing one last look to the tussled bed sheets before he left his little brother's old room and Dwalin behind.

\--

He found Bilbo sitting in the armchair by the fireplace in Fili's room, two candles adding to the light in the room where the hobbit was reading a book of dwarven poetry, probably the only one Ori had until now found in the common tongue.

Thorin closed the door behind himsef and silently walked over to the second armchair, sitting down with a deep sigh and leaning back, feeling his muscles almost weep in delight upon the comfortable chair. He waited until Bilbo lowered the book and smiled at him before he spoke.  
"I didn't want to interrupt.", but the hobbit quickly shook his head, placing his book on the small table.

"No, no, you are not interrupting. I do believe that coming back from the dead does give you the right to seek some attention.", Thorin chuckled breathlessly almost, feeling his heart fill with warmth and fondness again upon Bilbo's gentle words. Hazel eyes watched him closely for a moment, "You should get some rest, Thorin, it was a long day. You've been awake again for half a day and have already walked through the entire mountain twice, Ori told me you've even been down to the mines.", getting to his feet Bilbo moved behind his armchair before Thorin could have said a word.

He had come to rest, to sit down and relax, close to at least one nephew. He had not expected the hobbit's warmth or his fussing, because Bilbo pushed a small wooden footstool around both chairs and then placed it right before Thorin's booted feet.  
"Bilbo...", but his protests were immediately met with a hard glare and he was unable to fight against that look in hazel eyes.

"I saw you die in my hands. Let me fuss over you and be quiet.", Bilbo snapped more heated than intended, because in the next second when he blushed he quickly looked down and let his shaking hands grab the footstool again. Thorin leaned forward instantly and brought his hands down to gently be placed upon the hobbit's smaller ones.  
"I'm here. I'm alive, Bilbo, and I do not have any plans to change it.", carefully he squeezed the shaking hand beneath his palms, and a deep breath left Bilbo's lungs, "I'll let you fuss, Master Burglar, if you at least allow me to take off my own boots."

He had changed into a clean tunic some hours ago, after Balin and Dwalin had each told him in their own special ways that facing his nephews in burial clothing, maybe even right after waking up, would surely only knock them back into the darkness.

Bilbo huffed, a familiar reaction to any topic concerning boots and Thorin relished in the feeling of a carefree quest memory. He made quick work of his boots, kept the socks on, Dwalin's, Thorin could already hear that he would never hear the end of that particular fact, before letting Bilbo arrange his feet on the footstool. Leaning back into the chair, Thorin almost chuckled again when a clearly concerned Bilbo fiddled with the blanket he had taken from the sideboard next to the fireplace.

"Are you alright, Bilbo?", Thorin knew his question was probably stupid, for three days the hobbit had mourned him, Dwalin had told him about the quiet dedicated care that Bilbo had focused on both of his nephews. How he had only slowly started to talk again to Ori and Balin yesterday, but how his eyes had remained sad and empty, up until that moment when Thorin had stepped through the doors into his grandparent's sitting room.

His nerves were surely worn thin, and even if he might have appeared calm over the day, Thorin had come to learn the small signs that told you about Bilbo Baggins true emotions. He was exhausted, he looked tired himself, he was confused just as much as he was overjoyed to see him again. It was more than Thorin could have asked for after everything that had happened.

Letting Bilbo drape the blanket over his legs, Thorin watched his movements with blue eyes, and then as the hobbit already turned again to move back to his own chair, Thorin caught his wrist with both hands, waiting until Bilbo's wide eyes looked at him, "Thank you."

"It's just a blanket, Thorin..."

"Not for the blanket. Thank you for still being here, I would have understood it well if all you had wanted to do after the battle was go home.", he let go of Bilbo's wrist, but the hobbit remained by his side, hesitatingly meeting his eyes, and the hidden pain and fear in them almost knocked Thorin off the chair. It wasn't directed at him, it was for him.  
"I couldn't. Gandalf offered, but I couldn't. Not until you weren't buried, not until I didn't know that Fili and Kili were awake. And when Dwalin asked me to stay...", had he felt his throat going dry upon the first words, did Thorin in the end raise a confused eyebrow.

 

"Dwalin?", he called out his confusion and Bilbo nodded, amused and still surprised about it himself it seemed, Thorin could guess why Dwalin would have wanted the halfling to stay, but he would have never expected him to act on it. But you were dead, his mind offered him blindly as an explanantion while Bilbo searched for words, Dwalin must have been struck by grief and the fear of losing the only thing he had ever dared to love with all his heart.

Family.

"Oh yes, Balin was busy negotiating with everyone to not lose the just won peace. It was Dwalin who approached me and asked me to stay for a while, at least until the boys were awake and okay. He said...that it might be a good idea to talk to them, because I had been the last one to talk with you after all. And Fili might want to know how you died.", they both glanced over to the not moving blond prince for a second before hazel eyes settled on blue ones again, "I couldn't refuse, I didn't want to leave either, I wasn't ready to..."

For a moment silence lasted between them, not a tense one, the comfortable one and Thorin looked over to the slowly rising and falling chest of his older nephew while Bilbo sat back down on the second armchair.

"Gandalf left."  
"Aye, he did. He told me the day after the battle that this would be our only chance to pass the Misty Mountains before the winter made it impossible to travel. I can't go back until spring now, but if that is a problem, I am sure that Dale will..."  
"No, no, it's not a problem. Quite on the contrary, I am glad to have some more time with you, Bilbo. There are many things left unspoken between us, many things that I am too tired to talk about today. But I believe talking would be a good idea in the upcoming days."

"Yes, yes, I believe so too.", Bilbo left it unspoken that somehow he didn't long for the Shire, for Bag End, anymore, every small feeling of homesickness had left him the moment Thorin had presumbly taken his last breath in his arms. All he had been able to think of the in the last days was that with leaving Erebor behind, he would somehow also leave a part of his memories of a dear friend behind, and his heart had bled upon that thought, "I would welcome it very much."

"I remember, you know. The last words I spoke to you before I slipped away. I remember every moment of that conversation as if it had just been a few minutes ago. It meant a lot to me to not be alone.", he wouldn't know later if it had been what he had said or if the day had just caught up with Bilbo, but from one moment of the other, Bilbo's face lost its color entirely. He leaned forward and hid his face behind trembling hands but not before Thorin's sharp eyes had seen the tears running over his cheeks.

He was on his feet within a moment, falling to his knees in front of Bilbo in the next, hands reaching to grasp the hobbit's shaking shoulders.  
"Bilbo, shh, shh. It's okay.", using one hand he tugged the hobbit's hand away from his face, hazel eyes were pinched shit, and even when his warm hand curled around the smaller one, even then Bilbo still didn't look up, "We are safe, Bilbo. The battle is over, we won. It is over.", Thorin wondered just how much the hobbit was hurting on the inside, just how much he had tried to fight against the memories from the battle.

A gentle soul like him, hobbits weren't made for gruesome battles, weren't made for bloodshed and terror.

"You died.", he almost missed it, so quiet did the words leave Bilbo's mouth, but then hazel eyes opened and looked up at him again, swimming with tears, "You died and I couldn't do anything. I had to look on while you stopped breathing and you died, Thorin. You were dead, they brought you down into the tents of the elves, and they declared you for dead.", his hands squeezed Bilbo's hand and shoulder.

The pain in hazel eyes was so pure that it cut right through Thorin's heart, and he felt the by then all familiar burning in his heart upon seeing the halfling upset. It had pained him beyond belief when he had seen Bilbo's tears on Ravenhill, but he had been too tired to hold on much longer. Now though he was awake, he was alright and he was here, and he leaned up. Bringing their foreheads together gently, he rooted Bilbo to the present, bringing him back from the dark memories of a terrible battle.

They were so close that Bilbo could almost feel Thorin's breath ghost over his lips, and Thorin felt his heart speed up when he brought hesitant fingers up to stroke through honey colored curls, lips curling into a small smile when the hobbit closed his eyes in reaction, and he leaned further down.

Only to snap back and jump back to his feet when he heard the croaking voice behind his back, and when he caught sight of blue eyes blinking open, there was no thought left of the hobbit in his mind as he scrambled over to Fili's bedside.

"Uncle."

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions as always welcome


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kili sleeps, Fili gets drunk, Dwalin sighs a lot and Thorin and Bilbo fight over who is being more oblivious

Chapter 3

Previously on "Sons of Stone"

They were so close that Bilbo could almost feel Thorin's breath ghost over his lips, and Thorin felt his heart speed up when he brought hesitant fingers up to stroke through honey colored curls, lips curling into a small smile when the hobbit closed his eyes in reaction, and he leaned further down.

Only to snap back and jump back to his feet when he heard the croaking voice behind his back, and when he caught sight of blue eyes blinking open, there was no thought left of the hobbit in his mind as he scrambled over to Fili's bedside.

"Uncle."

\--

Falling to his knees on the edge of his nephew's bed, Thorin let his hand quickly fall upon the blond dwarf's shoulders, pushing him back onto the bed where Fili had tried to sit up. Blue eyes were flying around until they finally settled on his face, looking shocked and surprised, confused and bewildered.  
"Easy, Fili, easy. Don't strain yourself too much. There you go, my lad.", shaking hands came up to wrap around his wrists and Thorin could feel the lump in his throat building again. Seeing blue eyes open again, filled with life, even if confusion was on top of everything, pain in them as well, but he was alive and awake. 

His golden boy. 

"Uncle.", Fili rasped once more, fingers tightening around his wrists, "Uncle.", stroking over a bearded cheek, Thorin curled his lips into a smile, too happy about hearing their little lion's voice, blue eyes drank in similar ones.  
"Bilbo, can you go and find Dwalin?", a soft hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed once and Thorin only had to turn his head so slightly before he caught sight of the hobbit nodding, looking so elated and relieved himself upon seeing Fili awake.

Bilbo hurried from the room and Thorin turned his attention back to his older nephew who slowly became more aware of what was going on, and Thorin waited for the exact moment that the memories caught up with his heir. It took Fili another minute, but then he gasped, blue eyes flew open to land on his uncle's face and he struggled against the hands pinning him down.  
"Fili, it's okay. You're safe. Fili.", he rushed through his words, leaning down to bring his forehead against his nephew's, a gesture where Fili would always recognize him, blue eyes were wildly glancing left and right.

And Thorin could see it all. How the last minutes crashed back into Fili's memory, how he mouthed at them to run, how the sword pierced his back, how he fell. Fell. Fell. Fell.  
"Shh, Fili, look at me. Look at me. Little lion, look at me.", Fili's heart was thundering in his chest and Thorin waited until the panic was subdued enough that Fili managed to lock eyes with him again, "It's over, the battle is over. We won. You're gonna be alright, we're all gonna be okay."

Another minute passed and Fili slowly calmed down, fingers still clutching at his uncle's wrists, but Thorin had no need on letting go of him himself, he only straightened up again.  
"Where am I?", Fili rasped out through dry lips, eyes moving left and right to take in the room, his nose scrunched up in confusion.  
"Erebor. You are in the king's chambers.", Fili's eyes flew open once more and Thorin resisted the urge to facepalm, oh he was an idiot.

"Always so tactful, Thorin, aren't we?", Dwalin saved him from stumbling through a mess of explanations as he dropped to his knees on the other side of Fili's bed, "It's good to see you awake again, laddie.", the old warrior grumbled and gratefully caught the hand that was pushed his way when Fili's left hand let go of his uncle's wrist. But as exhausted as he was, Fili had never been stupid or slow for that matter.

"Why am I in the king's chambers? Why would I...", and it dawned on him just as Thorin went to open his mouth again, "Uncle..."  
"I'm okay, I promise you, I swear to you, Fili. I am okay. But I wasn't.", Dwalin snorted, always straight to the point he had been with both boys, there was no need to sugarcoat them, especially not the older one.  
"Your uncle died on Ravenhill. He defeated Azog but his injuries were too severe, Bilbo was with him when he drew his last breath. By some miracle, maybe Mahal's did listen to our prayers for once, he woke up again three days later. This morning to be precise, boy. Almost healed.", Fili nodded, both older dwarves could see that the true meaning had not really sunk in just then.

But Fili could puzzle together why he had been set in the king's chambers now, "Kili?", was the next question that came naturally, "Where is Kili?"  
"He is fighting, my lad.", Dwalin stopped whatever excuse Thorin could have come up with, he got, he truly got it why he would try and protect them from the harsh truth, but Fili was not a wee dwarfling anymore, he had sacrificed himself for their lives and he deserved to know the truth. As unpleasant as it might be.

"He fought bravely against Bolg, with that elven maid at his side. They defeated him, but your brother nearly paid with his life. But he is fighting now, he is strong and stubborn, he will make it. His injuries are plenty, but he has the best healers and best care he could possibly get on this side of the Misty Mountains. And that lady of his is barely stepping out of his room for more than a minute.", Fili breathed Dwalin's words in, and it soothed and comforted him for now, until his mind and body could come up with enough energy to even think about standing up, "Are you in pain?"

"No.", Fili answered quickly, too quickly, the older one of Dis's boys had always had the talent for downplaying the true extent of his injuries, the best example was a rotten tooth that had not only brought him terrible pain in his jaw but could have also easily killed him with an infection if Dwalin had not reached for unfair methods. Now though, Thorin was sure that rock candy would not really help them along, so he hoped a hard look into blue eyes would give him the same result, a might have been a low blow, Fili always reacted bad to disappointment being brought his way, but Thorin wanted the truth from him.

It was a true miracle that the boy was alive, and he would rather keep it that way.

"It's not much. I feel numb more than I feel the pain...How am I alive?", the question threw both Dwalin and Thorin offguard for a moment, but it was another voice that answered the young prince.  
"We should not ask ourselves those kind of questions, my prince, let us rather accept that you are awake and on the better side of life.", Bilbo smiled as he slowly came back into the room, stopping at the end of Fili's bed, the blond prince weakly smiled back at him, "Oin should be here shortly. He sent Stonehelm down to fetch Laselia.", a cheery smile turned into a thunderous frown and Dwalin sighed.

\--

Some days passed, Fili grew stronger and was soon up and about just like his uncle, only his little brother, the youngest Durin remained unconscious at most times, only lucid enough at some points to drink water and swallow some broth. 

But despite that little spot of uncertainty in their hearts, they remained optimistic while starting the long and weary process of rebuilding Erebor to its former glory. And it was outside the cleaned and aired old council room that Fili found himself slamming the door shut behind himself and Tauriel, both of them dragging a hand down their faces and leaning against the wall opposite the heavy stone doors, behind which two kings were still loudly arguing.

Sighing deeply, Erebor's uncrowned crown prince dared a glance to his right where the red haired she-elf was pinching the bridge of her nose.  
"They will never not be at each other's throat.", he quietly grumbled and pushed himself away from the wall to turn towards the wide corridor that would lead to the battlements, he needed fresh air now.

Knowing that Tauriel would follow him, Fili tried to keep the scowl from being permantly edged into his face, there was stubborn, and then there was whatever Thorin and Thranduil was. He understood, oh he truly did understand his uncle's doubts and hatred, he understood where it was coming from and why it was so hard for his uncle to let go of it.

But he couldn't bring himself to be as pigheaded about it, they needed the trade, no one was trying to bind them together in friendship, as long as they could work together, they could curse each other's existence into the depths of Mordor when no one was looking for all that Fili cared. 

"So like Dwalin does?", Tauriel's amused voice reached his ears and had him realize that he had spoken the last words out loud and he threw a confused look over his shoulder, Dwalin was surely the last one he would have brought up as an example.  
"Yes, all stoic and unmoved whenever he has to deal with someone unpleasant, but once he thinks no one who shouldn't could hear him, he curses their hair to fall out.", upon Fili's curious raised eyebrow, Tauriel chuckled and elaborated, "He spent a good amount of time yesterday talking to Kili about the incapabilities of the Iron Hills soldiers, he didn't really care about me sitting on the window still.", Fili sighed and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his own nose, sometimes he truly wondered why his mother was surprised that Kili and him had turned out the way they had.

Thorin and Dwalin had had a strong hand in raising them after all. How was that supposed to have ended well...

"I also have to say, I am starting to enjoy his never ending inventions of elven insults. He is very creative.", Fili snorted and pushed the doors to the battlements open, sighing internally upon feeling the fresh cold air wiping the annoyance from his mind.  
"Don't tell him, it'll take the fun out of it for him.", Tauriel chuckled again and followed him out into the cold winter afternoon, none of the guards so much blinked upon seeing them, as it was their duty. They could gossip all they wanted behind his back, but no one would dare to cause insult to the crown prince's face.

"Do you think it was a good idea to leave Master Baggins alone with them?", Tauriel asked when they reached an alcove between a set of guards overlooking the plains before the mountain, Fili pushed himself up on the stone while Tauriel chose to lean against the wall.  
"Oh, do not underestimate the powers of one hobbit, Tauriel. I would dare say that by now, there are only two people my uncle fears in this world, and Bilbo is one of them.", Fili answered with a smirk on his face, keeping the reasons for it quiet, he privately still rolled his eyes over the obliviousness of two people. 

How Bilbo and Thorin could not realize what everyone else already knew was beyond him.

"Who is the other one?", the elf inquired and Fili laughed, leaning back against the wall, he pointed a lazy finger towards the east where in the distance the white tops of the Misty Mountains were visible for once, "My mother. She has this mean trick with her fingers where she pinches your ear so tight that you can feel it down to your feet.", he shuddered in memory and Tauriel started laughing.

\--

Later that day, as evening dawned on them and a heavy snow storm was howling outside the mountain – prompting Thorin to hope that Thranduils big pomptous head would get stuck in a snow pile – the company met to eat dinner together while Dain and his men kept to themselves in their camp on the front steps of the mountain.

Bilbo and Bombur had taken what the elves had traded and had created a good dinner for them, and then for the first time since leaving Lake-Town, the company sat down in the royal dining room to enjoy one evening of peace and companionship, minus one member.

But Kili was ever present in the stories Thorin shared over ale and rabbit, even though their little archer was sleeping one story up with the red haired elf watching over him. Fili huffed deeply and slid down further into his chair, resisting against the urge to hide behind his hands as his uncle found so much glee in awkward childhood stories, it was a treat to see Thorin so happy and carefree, but he could have done without the horrible memories.

Though Bilbo looked quite adorable with those rosy cheeks and thick grin on his face, Fili had to admit, but he still did not agree with the method Thorin was using to get there.  
"Don't look so glum.", Nori chuckled when he siddled up to him, Fili merely grunted and reached for another ale, bless Dain and the barrels of good dwarven ale he had brought. Fili might actually get so low as to thank his cousin's bastard son for having the mind to bring those barrels on his quick travel to join his father.

Stonehelm was a blasted asshole with rocks shoved up his backside until they were pouring from his ears, but he sure had good taste in ale.  
"He is happy.", the thief turned spymaster spoke quietly, nodding in their king's direction, the silence was completely unnecessary, Dwalin's and Gloin's laughter was loud enough to drown out the sound of another orc army approaching.

"Did you see the lovesick grin on Bilbo's face? Of course he is happy.", Fili groaned again, the groan of a nephew so not willing to talk about his uncle's love life, but also already so invested in it that he really had a reason to push it along, he was so not going to lose to his baby brother, "He is also stupid and blind and oblivious, and I am not nearly as drunk as I need to be for this."

He felt Nori's eyes on him and rolled his own, well, alright, he was quite drunk already, but there wasn't much you could do when three parts of your family were talking about stories from a time when you couldn't even count past ten. He had his other reasons too, though, his brother was not getting any better and it was starting to built a panic bubble in Fili's chest, because he couldn't think about a future where death spared him but took Kili as the prize.

And when his head wasn't thinking about those depressing thoughts now, he was stuck on coming to terms with being a crown prince of a suddenly very real kingdom, and that surely was enough to have him hip deep in hysteria again.

And Stonehelm. Oh by Durin's beard, how could someone ever forget about Stonehelm.

With everyone busy in the process of rebuilding Erebor and the kingdom within it, Fili had begged his uncle to give him something to do once he was able to stand on his own long enough without sounding like a dying pig. He had been bored and boredom let to thinking and thinking let to insane worry and panic about his brother and he didn't have the energy for that yet.

He wasn't fit enough to help with the actual rebuilding process, Oin had made that quite clear, Thorin was also reluctant to let him take over princely duties, not that there were many so far, no people to rule over meant quite a lack of responsibilites. But his incessive begging had been fruitful...just not in the way Fili had hoped it to turn out.

And he still wasn't sure whose bad joke it was, Balin's, Thorin's, Durin's, Mahal's...

But only one hour after he had left the council room and his uncle shouting at the elven king behind to talk with Tauriel on the battlements, his uncle had called him back and had ordered him to delegate the housing of the Iron Hill soldiers with their commanding captain.

Which in lieu of the actual captain of Dain's army taking some men back to the Iron Hills to bring more supplies meant that Fili had to deal with Thorin Stonehelm in the morning. And wasn't that the best reason ever to get shit face drunk.

"Fili, I think you had enough.", and wasn't it hilarious that Nori of all people spoke those words, Fili snickered over his own thoughts and plugged his tankard right out of Nori's hands again, unfortunately capturing Dwalin's attention with it.  
"I can still very well pronounce his name in my head, I did not have nearly enough.", he had always found it funny that he turned into a grumpy Thorin-like gloomy faced version of himself when he was drunk, while his uncle turned into a weirdly older looking version of his brother and Kili...well Kili only got more like himself but his brother could also not hold his liquor at all so that wasn't really a surprise.

"Ah, I think Master Nori is right, laddie.", Dwalin's voice had him look up, and had his vision always been so bleary, "You celebrated enough for one night, my boy. It's time we get you back into that bed before Oin has my head for letting you touch the ale at all.", he let Dwalin pull him to his feet, the rest of the company barely takes notice, they are too caught up in their own conversations and warmed by the ale themselves.

\--

Dwalin had to admit that he maybe had a little too much experience and ease in handling drunk Durin heirs of two generations, Dis had begun to call it his secret and undeniable worshipped fifth talent by the time Fili had hit his adolescence. As much as she loved her brother and her sons, she had never had any patience with their drunk selfs, maybe still a little for the mostly calm older one of her boys who turned even more quiet when drunk, prone to turn into an even broodier version of his uncle when intoxicated.

Kili and Thorin himself were less prone to get any sympathy from the only dam in their family, their king had the tendency to get extremely talkative while drunk and he loved to sing, whereas Kili who was already cuddly to begin with turned into some bewitched climbing plant. The boy was also unable to keep his liquor and got drunk at an amount where his older brother was still able to negotiate trade agreements with a completely straight face. 

Dwalin had found his own methods in dealing with drunk Durins over the time, lend a listening ear to his best friend, held still for Kili and stroked through blond hair to keep the older brother from getting lost in his own thoughts, just solely making sure they didn't get themselves beheaded on accident. Or imprisoned again. Or threatened with their own daggers by not impressed lasses with brown hair. Or castrated by infuriated fathers.

Or stuck in a tree. Mine. Forge. Carriage. 

Or glued to Balin's books. The throne. Dis's tiara.

Or passed out in a river bank. On a pony three miles outside the settlement.

Well...he had had his share of adventures. Keeping a quietly muttering Fili from wandering off on their way back to the royal apartments was fairly easy compared to half of that. In a way, Fili had always been the easier one, calm and patient even when completely out of his wits, whereas he had more often than not just given up on keeping Kili and Thorin under control and had preferred to find their hangover selves the next morning.

But on the other hand, Fili was also the most difficult to handle when drunk, his uncle and little brother were what he would call happy drunks, they needed the active side of protecting more than anything else, but a locked room with a bed usually did the job as well. Or a stable. A forge. A council room. 

Dwalin took what he could get on short notice.

Fili mostly had to be protected from himself and his own head, kept from drifting off too far into the deep ends of his mind. The boy had been born worrying, already overthinking everything on the inside when he kept them waiting for two days after Dis's pains had started. On the rare occasions where the heavy weighed questions tumbled out of the golden haired boy after hours of quiet musings, Dwalin liked to dump him on his older brother.

Fili was smarter and way more intelligent than him on a normal day, but when his entire energy had gone into a thought process only a scholar would be able to understand and help him. Usually though Fili only needed someone to make him see that he wasn't alone and that the world was in fact not resting on his shoulders alone.

Dwalin had a feeling tonight would be another one of those cases as the crown prince stumbled through the door of the sitting room between Kili's and his still temporary rooms, he merely closed the door behind himself and followed Fili over to the half open door of the younger prince. The blond stumbled over to his brother's bed, as was the usual case by now, Kili was restless, twitching from time to time, quiet groans falling from his lips.

Tauriel was reading in a small green book in the corner with the couch, looking up only when Fili's drunken clumsiness resulted in him half falling over the chair while trying to sit down at his brother's side. Dwalin took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall next to the door, he knew the drill by then, Fili would just spent some minutes quietly sitting by Kili's restless self before passing out in his own bed.

Tonight though the ale seemed to have loosened his tongue for once, and Dwalin and Tauriel got their breath stuck in their throats when the prince's silent voice spoke up.  
"You have to come back to me, nadadith. You promised me to never leave for too long.", his tongue was quite obviously stumbling over the words, "Wake up, Kee, wake up.", Dwalin pushed himself forward when the blond's voice broke over his brother's nickname, "Come back to me."

"He will, little lion, he will come back to you, but we need to give him some more time.", Dwalin lowered his voice as well, gently pulling Fili back to his feet, "And you need rest to still be strong for your brother tomorrow. Tauriel will watch over Kili, and she will get you the moment something changes, you know that.", Fili tiredly turned to look over to the she-elf who quickly nodded, smiling that small gentle smile.

\--

Helping him into his night tunic as if he was still a small little dwarfling worn out from a day of playing outside, Dwalin could for once pretend that Fili was not an adult prince but still the little boy barely reaching past his knee who scrambled into his bed in the nights after his father had died. Afraid to be alone, but unwilling to disturb his grieving mother.

But this time his movements were sluggish because of ale and exhaustion from a long day, and Fili fell down on his bed when the braids in his hair refused to untangle under his trembling fingers. Smiling to himself, Dwalin knelt down on the edge of the bed and softly slapped Fili's fingers away from his hair, taking over without saying a word.

Instead of protesting, Fili let his hands fall into his lap and relaxed, "Did I do the right thing, Dwalin? By making him leave in the watch tower? We should have fought together, should have left that dreaded place behind instead of pushing on.", fisting his hands together, Fili otherwise held completely still, "Kili shouldn't have had to face Bolg alone."

"He wasn't alone, Fili.", Dwalin reminded him, "We can't change now what happened, and there is nothing you can gain from asking yourself what could have been. Your brother is alive, soon enough he will wake and he will see that despite everything we feared, you are still alive as well.", it was a worry that Dwalin somehow still held in his heart, that Kili wasn't waking up because he thought his brother to be lost. 

It was one of the reasons why he encouraged Fili to talk to his brother as much as possible, to have the younger one realize that his protector was still there. But at the same time he also sublty made sure that Fili would never be alone with Kili, for the old warrior worried that seeing his brother's face directly after waking up where he thought Fili to be dead, might not be the best for Kili's already sensitive soul.

Fili was frowning down at his hands again when he uncurled the last of the boy's braids, and Dwalin reached up with one hand and tossled it through blond looks, "Now, laddie, leave that face to your uncle, he is doing enough brooding for five generations of Durin's still to come. Come on, up and under the covers.", blue eyes quickly flickered up to midly glare at him, Fili had never appreciated to be treated as anything but grown up by the time his head had reached up to Dwalin's thigh.

But the ale in his head made it difficult for him to focus for long and his eyes dropped close again after a minute or two. Dwalin ignored the prince's feeble attempts to crawl under the furs himself and helped, way too used to fussy dwarflings and the never ending protest of "not being sleepy" when they were already half drowsing on your shoulder.

Only a moment later Fili was laying under the thick furs and was rubbing his cheek against the soft pillows, and once more Dwalin wondered where the time had gone, the boys had grown up too fast it seemed. It felt like yesterday that small arms had barely been able to lift a toy sword, and now they had been through a war, had fought in battle.

"Dwalin?", humming in response, he turned back to bleary looking blue eyes, "Can you tell me a story? Something from Ered Luin?", smiling to himself he shifted to sit down on the edge of the prince's bed.  
"Aye, sure I can.", they might be grown now, strong and stubborn, but sometimes even an experienced warrior needed a comforting hand, "Lemme see, there once was...", and as he talked, he let one hand stroke through blond curls, watching how Fili slowly succumbed to the weariness in his head.

Free of the worry for now, free of the brooding questions and the never ending scenarios he ran through before making a single decision. 

Dwalin waited until he could be sure that Fili was asleep, and only then did he close the door behind himself and dimmed the light in the sitting room, moving over to the long couch on one wall, he shrugged off his light armor. One more night on the couch would still agree with his old back and he rather preferred to be closer to both princes for now.

\--

Had he gone back to the dining rooms, he would have probably run straight into the two companions who were slowly making their way up the stairs towards the royal apartments, and Dwalin could have either saved or ruined what followed next.

Bilbo was leaning heavily on Thorin, one of the king's arms around his waist to keep him from running straight into walls at every corner. He wasn't drunk, he had in wise foresight not really touched more than one tankard of ale, no matter how many times Gloin had tried to push more onto him. 

But then the dwarves had taken out some fiddles and it quickly turned into singing and dancing and the hobbit could just not walk straight anymore because his legs were like jello. Thorin had offered to walk him to his room after he had collapsed into his chair after another round of heavy feet swinging with Bofur and Nori.

"Is this the normal dwarven party behavior?", Bilbo asked, holding himself up against the wall when Thorin went to open the door to the royal apartments, a guard was not posted here yet, the hobbit had the suspicion that Dwalin refused to trust anyone of the Iron Hills soldiers, and Thorin was content for now to not argue with his best friend's paranoia. 

The king chuckled, a deep breathy sound that made his toes curl and his face flush with heat, "It was still very tame, Master Baggins...", Thorin spoke in that throaty deep voice, a little warmed by the ale himself.  
"Bilbo.", the copper haired hobbit interrupted him and smiled despite the sudden nervousness as he walked past Thorin into the well lit corridor, he was already able to see the door to his room.

Thorin had taken a moment or two a day after Fili had woken up to sit down and dutifully work out whom he wanted to give which room. Fili and Kili would for now remain in the former king's and queen's quarters at the end of the long corridor, Thorin had called it a lovely way to keep them out of their ways, Dwalin had called it a horribly new way for them to come up with even more bullshit.

Dwalin and Balin had moved into the old quarters of their family at the beginning of the corridor, and as much as Bilbo had understood there were still a lot of empty rooms now, even after Thorin's sister would join them. Durin's royalty had suffered many losses.

Thorin had taken his own old rooms, had given the room across from it to Bilbo, which the hobbit had later found out from Balin had once belonged to a young prince of Durin's line, and his heart had almost jumped from his chest when he realized that Thorin had given him Frerin's rooms, a gesture that did not get past him. He knew how much Thorin still missed and mourned his little brother. 

The more he was touched and confused by this selfless gesture, he was just a simple hobbit, but Thorin had refused to take his decision back and Bilbo had quietly and eternally grateful moved into the set of three connected rooms two days after Fili had woken up. A bedroom, a private bathroom and a small sitting room, Bilbo felt spoiled.

Very much as spoiled as right now where he was standing right in front of the dark haired king again, with blue eyes looking down at him, Thorin's entire attention on him. Simple Bilbo Baggins.  
"Bilbo.", Thorin agreed silently and they walked over to the doors to their rooms that lay across from each other, and when they stopped more silence hung between them.

But it was a comfortable silence, silence between friends. A silence that reminded Bilbo of the night they had spent at the foot of the Carrock, one night spent in peace and recovering, before they were once more running from wargs and orcs.

\--

Flashback

\--

The fire was not only warming but also spending light on this evening of rest and recovery, Bilbo could feel the tension draining from his muscles and his heart finally slow down after everything that had happened in the last hours.

The company had settled down for the night after they had somehow found something to eat, an already dead on his feet Kili had dragged his bow into the forest and had returned with a couple of rabbits while Oin had patched his uncle up as best as he could with their now limited supplies. And two hours later now, with Dwalin sitting watch and Gandalf having wandered off once more without anyone even still blinking about it, Bilbo found himself sitting on a log by the fire, arms wrapped around himself.

From the company, next to Dwalin, only Thorin, Nori and Fili were still awake, and the hobbit watched his fellow companions sleep, somehow huddled together on the few remaining bedrolls. Dori and Ori had joined as well as Bofur and Bifur, Bombur alone, while Balin had simply chosen the ground to sleep on. Oin and Gloin following his example. Dwalin had forced his bedroll on a much protesting Thorin.

He could still not believe the sudden silence, it felt unreal after the stone giants, after the dark caves of Goblin Town, after the cliffs, Azog, eagles. It just felt too good to be true. He glanced to his side where Thorin was laying on his back on Dwalin's bedroll, watching the stars over their heads, he looked tired but content, as if he could still see the distant foggy image of Erebor before his eyes.

His left hand was absentmindedly stroking through thick raven colored hair, one looking so much like his own, and Bilbo could not help but smile in fondness when his eyes fell upon the younger Durin brother. Kili was dead asleep, having passed out only minutes after they had eaten dinner, Thorin had begged him closer to talk, as Kili had looked a little shaken since they got down from the Carrock, and when Bilbo had looked back after talking with Balin, the younger one of Thorin's nephew was fast asleep, sprawled over his uncle who didn't seem to mind it at all.

By now, Fili had thrown Thorin's coat over them and had sat down by the fire himself, wetstone and daggers in his hands, that seemed to calm him more than any hugs could.  
"Are you cold, Bilbo?", the prince's quiet voice flickered over to him and from the corner of his eyes, Bilbo saw blue eyes settle on him as well.  
"The fire will warm me, do not worry, Fili.", a quick look over his shoulder later, Fili got to his feet and shrugged off the brown fur coat, placing it around Bilbo's shoulders before the hobbit could protest.

"It won't be my first night spend out in the wilds, Master Baggins. And I do not want you to get sick, or suffer from shock more than you already do. Take my coat, Bilbo, I will be fine.", the pleading look in blue eyes was too much and Bilbo nodded, no matter how much his head wanted to protest, because the lad was younger, he needed the warmth, the strength a good sleep could give him. But damn the boy and his eyes that looked so much like his uncle's, there was no way Bilbo could refuse them so close after the hug on the Carrock that had warmed his heart to new heights, had given new hope to his head.

"Thank you, Fili, I appreciate it very much.", Fili smiled and patted his shoulder before taking his wetstone and daggers and walking over to where Dwalin was sitting on a rock looking up at the Carrock. Bilbo pulled the coat closer around himself and sighed when the warmth seeped into his skin.

"He will truly be alright, Master Baggins.", Thorin whispered almost, prompting Bilbo to look at him again, turning slightly to be more comfortable, Kili's sleeping face was resting on Thorin's chest, one hand tightly wrapped around a strand of silver black hair, "Dwalin won't let him shiver for a second, believe me as much. He is merely looking out for a friend. And now come over here, it won't do you good to fall asleep so close to the fire. You would only wake up with burns on your face.", and under Bilbo's surprised eyes, Thorin took his free hand and patted the space next to him, on the side of him where his nephew's weapons weren't laying around Orcrist in controlled chaos.

Hesitantly Bilbo stood up from the log and walked the three feet over to Thorin's left side, careful not to stumble over any of Kili's sprawled limbs, and waiting for their leader to change his mind at any second and sent him somewhere else, he sat down on the leaves covered ground, with the mountain's rock at his back.

But Thorin didn't change his mind, he only camly watched how Bilbo got himself comfortable with Fili's coat turned over him like a blanket, for it was big enough to cover him from head to toe. Brave and blunt for a moment, Bilbo shifted a little until he was almost elbow to elbow and thigh to thigh with Thorin, and if someone asked, it was for sole warmth reasons anyway.

And Thorin didn't seem to mind, for he continued to wait patiently until Bilbo stopped his fussing and turning, his right hand steadily stroking through his nephew's black mob of hair. With the fire on one side and the combined body heat of two dwarves on his other one, Bilbo finally found the comfort to settle down then, especially when a calloused hand came up to squeeze his shoulder twice.

Bilbo closed his eyes and felt himself relax, laying side by side with the dwarven king and his younger heir, and the silence that lasted over them was peaceful and wonderful and soothing. And he got lulled to sleep when Thorin's throat rumbled with the low hummings of a lullaby tune, and right before he drifted off into the comfort of his dreams, Bilbo seemed to imagine the gentle touch of fingers stroking through his hair.

\--

Flashback End

\--

When Bilbo got pulled out of his memories again, he found himself standing with his back to his door, intense blue eyes watching him with more fondness than he could have possibly deserved. He might not have been drunk on ale, but he was drunk on comfort and the warmth of true friendship, and Thorin's just overwhelming presence wasn't really helping clear his head at all.

And Bilbo was afraid to do something stupid, so he back up further against his door, grabbing a hold of the stone left and right of it to keep his hands busy and far away from a blue tunic.Unfortunately Thorin seemed to have other ideas or was just more oblivious than Bilbo had already given him credit for, for the king took a step closer again, inclining his head slightly to keep Bilbo from getting any more cramps in his neck from staring up at everyone.

He was still surprised and also very happy about the elated mood in Thorin's veins, his eyes were still shadowed by the worry over his younger sister-son, but Bilbo hadn't seen Thorin smile as much as he had in the last days, especially this evening. Telling stories of Ered Luin, of his family, stories of pranks his nephews had pulled or fallen victim to, completely ignoring the glare of doom that had been sent in his direction throughout the more awkward tellings. 

Bilbo would have taken pity with Fili, had Thorin not looked decades younger, so carefree and at peace for once, and truth be told, the boys had it coming for all the pranks they had pulled on their uncle and the company during the quest. Almost dying did nullify a dirtied glory box, but not a hand full of those itching plants in one's bedroll.

But itching plants were the very last thing on his mind now as he watched how Thorin opened his lips, and had they always been so full.  
"You seemed to have had a lot of fun tonight, Bilbo.", his voice was smoky, he smelled off the pipe weed he preferred so much, and Bilbo found himself gravitating closer without intending to do so.  
"I did...I...enjoyed the peaceful mood and the joy on their faces. It has been a long time since I saw them thus.", Thorin nodded upon his words and then cocked his head to the side, studying him some more, "The first time truly that I saw you like that. Happy."

Bilbo felt himself flush even deeper, his suddenly sweaty palms falling away from the stone as Thorin reached up with one broad hand to gently cup the side of his face, and oh sweet merciful Yavanna, his heart was going to explode.

"I am happy because of you."

Bilbo had no time to even process those words before Thorin leaned down and his eyes fell shut as warm lips touched his and a beard gently scratched the soft skin of his cheeks. For a split second he was petrified, too frozen to do anything, but a more than just painful twinge in his chest as his heart started racing again, jolted him back into his mind. If it was the right one, was another question, for he leaned up on the tip of his toes and kissed Thorin back.

And for one sweet moment everything was perfect. Every wrong, every mistake, every hurt, every insult, it was forever forgotten. Every bad moment of the last months completely erased from his memory, and all that counted was the feeling of Thorin's lips on his own. Was the way Thorin's fingers were so soft and demanding at the same time, holding his face firmly in place.

But as it came so often to him nowadays, perfect and good things didn't last long, and so right when his hands reached up to push himself even closer to the king, Thorin pushed away as though touched by dragonfire again. Bilbo snapped his eyes open again and for a moment they just stared at each other, but as the color drained from Thorin's face, that fond expression making room for absolute shock and horror, the king turned away and disappeared into his room before the hobbit could even blink.

\--

In a completey daze Bilbo slipped into his rooms, closing the door to the corridor behind himself without even hearing a sound. He passed by the comfortably armchair and the still open book by the ever going fireplace, taking off his coat he laid it upon the chair next to the still open door to the bedroom. 

His blind was blank while he took off his clothes and changed into the simple nightshift he had placed by the smaller fireplace of the bedroom this morning before going out, his body sighed upon feeling the warm fabric. Stocking the fire higher again with mechanically working hands, Bilbo saw nothing in his room, nothing of the old trinkets and belongings of an unknown dwarf that he just couldn't get himself to move.

He pulled the covers back and then tugged himself under the heavy and warm furs and blankets of the comfortably dwarven bed, something he truly had not expected from the sturdy race. And it wasn't until he blew out the candle by his bedside and laid back on his back that his hazel eyes flew open again and he stared at the stone carven ceiling.

"Holy sweet Yavanna, he kissed me.", Bilbo gasped into the semi darkness of the bedroom, bringing one hand up to lay over his open mouth but changing course in the last second and instead touching a single fingertip to his suddenly burning lips, "Thorin kissed me.", he whispered, the only sound in his ears the distant cracking noise of the fire and the wild thunder of his racing heartbeat.

Thorin had kissed him.

Thorin had KISSED him.

Him.

And he had kissed him back.

Bilbo felt drowning in his emotions as they all tumbled to the surface and questions assaulted his sleep deprived mind. Did it mean there was still hope to be had? Could he dream on? Or had Thorin entirely lost his mind now? What had happened?

I am happy because of you.

\--

He couldn't know that right across the hallway a dwarven king was at the same time holding his head under the ice cold spray of the showering system that was installed in the royal apartment's bathrooms. And Thorin was asking himself the exact same questions.

Adding only one more thought to it. His sister would never stop laughing at him.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> visit me on tumblr! you find me under aceofhearts.tumblr.com


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